With January designated as "New Business Intelligence Developments for 2011” month here at Dashboard Insight, we thought we'd take a look at what our industry experts are predicting for this upcoming year. As a result we contacted a number of our writers, analysts, and regular contributors and asked them to give us a one-paragraph answer to the question: "What business intelligence trends do you predict for 2011?"
Their answers are listed below in random order. You'll note some get close to the line of "product promotion," but they don't cross it!
We've provided links to each author’s associated web site, please check them out! Also, if you would like to be included in future articles similar to this one please contact Dashboard Insight’s editor by clicking here.
What business intelligence trends do you predict for 2011?
I believe that 2011 will herald the expansion of commonly accepted aspects of BI—standard and ad hoc reports, query drill-down, and alerts messaging—to include statistical analysis, forecasting, predictive modeling, and optimization. Admittedly, that was a mouthful, but it signals an important shift. BI will no longer be limited to just looking at the past, but will become more investigative, looking to the future. It will involve a better understanding of causal variables (drivers) and greater use of scenario what-if analysis.
A second trend I expect in 2011 is the lowering of “the wall” between IT and its BI users. Increasingly users seek easy and flexible access to data and the ability to manipulate it. IT is a set of technologies, often standardized. In contrast, BI users desire a set of “sand box” capabilities to investigate and explore to gain insights. IT will increasingly move to a service provider model. By better understanding the business users’ needs, IT will relax their tight grip of data ownership. This will provide the opportunity to demonstrate the elusive “value-adding” that IT is often maligned as not providing.
Gary Cokins
SAS
What business intelligence trends do you predict for 2011?
I foresee more and more companies pushing for BI in the Cloud. However, storing corporate data in the Cloud is a concept that has not yet been fully realized or accepted, due to the sensitive nature of some data (people need to know that their data is secure before they move it offsite). I expect to see more PR activities from Cloud service providers to convince the public that storing data in the cloud is safe. In particular, Microsoft has been pushing Azure services aggressively for the last few months.
I do not expect large organizations to follow in the Cloud movement this year, but I do predict public confidence in the Cloud will rise exponentially due to the marketing efforts of Cloud service providers.
Alexander ‘Sandy’ Chiang
Dundas Data Visualization
What business intelligence trends do you predict for 2011?
Business intelligence in 2011 is going to bring an increased focus on the use of mobile devices such as iPads and a variety of smartphones such as iPhones and Droids. As these devices become part of the everyday lives of more people, it is inevitable that they will ask for – and expect - their BI to be delivered, at least in part, on these devices. Another area which will receive continued focus – and a continuing struggle to find the right balance – is the ability of end users to have more control over the BI process, from gathering their own data to doing their own analysis and creating their own reports and dashboards. In some cases this will mean no IT involvement. And yet in other cases it is critical to have IT involved in the process from beginning to end. 2011 will see increased demand for Self-Service BI, along with an increased focus on defining exactly when and where different forms of self-service are most appropriate and effective.
Bob Abernethy
Strategy Companion Corporation
What business intelligence trends do you predict for 2011?
In 2011, Unstructured Data, the Cloud and Usability will continue to shape our discussions. These trends are fundamental because they remind us that the majority of the information we need to make better decisions is either unstructured, poorly documented or simply doesn’t reside inside our corporate walls.
Social Media and Text Analytics are great examples of unstructured data and Video and Audio Analytics will also become more prevalent. An increasing number of organizations will formalize their “Collaborative Decision Making” processes and enable their employees to share collective knowledge and insights to drive to better judgment.
The industry at large will learn from the top performers who can easily benchmark their performance by accessing externally-stored information to mash it up with internal sources. The use of public data market places will open new possibilities for companies of all sizes.
Finally, the industry will start making headways towards removing complexity out of business intelligence deployments. The Cloud will help organizations provide analytics across the organization more easily and many will experience Business Intelligence for what it is meant to be: a vital capability all employees are entitled to have access to. Even better, if it is natural and intuitive they will feel comfortable using it in a self-service mode.
Bruno Aziza
Microsoft